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ASA-2024-005: Potential slashing evasion during re-delegation

Low
mizmo18 published GHSA-86h5-xcpx-cfqc Feb 27, 2024

Package

gomod github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk (Go)

Affected versions

<= 0.50.4
<= 0.47.9

Patched versions

0.50.5
0.47.10

Description

ASA-2024-005: Potential slashing evasion during re-delegation

Component: Cosmos SDK
Criticality: Low
Affected Versions: Cosmos SDK versions <= 0.50.4; <= 0.47.9
Affected Users: Chain developers, Validator and Node operators
Impact: Slashing Evasion

Summary

An issue was identified in the slashing mechanism that may allow for the evasion of slashing penalties during a slashing event. If a delegation contributed to byzantine behavior of a validator, and the validator has not yet been slashed, it may be possible for that delegation to evade a pending slashing penalty through re-delegation behavior. Additional validation logic was added to restrict this behavior.

Next Steps for Impacted Parties

If you are a chain developer on an affected version of the Cosmos SDK, it is advised to update to the latest available version of the Cosmos SDK for your project. Once a patched version is available, it is recommended that network operators upgrade.

A Github Security Advisory for this issue is available in the Cosmos-SDK repository. For more information about Cosmos SDK, see https://docs.cosmos.network/.

This issue was found by cat shark (Khanh) who reported it to the Cosmos Bug Bounty Program on HackerOne on December 6, 2023. If you believe you have found a bug in the Interchain Stack or would like to contribute to the program by reporting a bug, please see https://hackerone.com/cosmos.

Severity

Low

CVE ID

No known CVE

Weaknesses

Incomplete Internal State Distinction

The product does not properly determine which state it is in, causing it to assume it is in state X when in fact it is in state Y, causing it to perform incorrect operations in a security-relevant manner. Learn more on MITRE.